Chapter 88 - An Ominous Sign (1/2)

Tsutomu, called over by Amy to answer the journalists’ questions, spoke with them without bringing up anything problematic. Most of what he ended up talking about were strategies against the Black Dragons and Garm’s contributions to the fight. At the end of it, another one of the journalists approached him, holding a notepad in her hands.

“Excuse me, Mister Tsutomu. I’m a journalist representing Solit Company…”

Tsutomu’s gaze instantly turned cold upon the woman’s utterance of the last two words. She momentarily cringed in response to the reaction she got, and then she proceeded to ask,

“Could you set aside a few minutes of your time? We’d like to ask a few questions about your contributions to the defense against the Black Dragons…”

“No, I’m afraid not. I don’t give interviews to the Solit Company.”

“I-if you say so.”

The journalist was stunned, a corner of her mouth twitching at Tsutomu’s sheer bluntness; she then left without further insistence.

Ever since the incident with Solit Company, Tsutomu had strictly refused to be interviewed by them, in part to extend the reach of other news outlets. The coverage by the two next biggest publishers on Tsutomu’s two Fire Dragon battles had attracted a lot of attention, and the subsequent exclusive articles on Garm and Amy had helped boost their business as well. The information on the Dungeon that Tsutomu had provided them had been quite popular as well; recently, the column about the Shell Crab was a particularly hot topic, selling out newspapers of the day it had been featured.

The other Clans were cooperating with the smaller publishers as well. Ealdred Crow had been quickly updating their layer progress, and had been willing to be interviewed without regard for payment. Silver Beast, which had defeated a Fire Dragon recently, had even refused to be interviewed by Solit Company at one point. Golden Tune had started interacting more with the second and third biggest news outlets, too.

Solit Company’s performance had clearly been declining, though they were still kept afloat by their coverage on the Scarlet Devil Squad, the Clan currently holding the deepest layer of progress. The publisher trying to contact Tsutomu again could mean that they were looking to improve their standing, wanting to get out of the current unfavorable situation.

Tsutomu had no intention to give them any interviews anytime soon, however. Perhaps he would once the other publishers got big, but his personal grudge meant that he could just never do it altogether.

Once his part was over, Tsutomu turned to Amy and Garm, and saw that they were surrounded by people. Amy was popular among both men and women, while Garm was surrounded mainly by children and older women.

For Tsutomu, although he no longer had a bad reputation, he was not yet all that popular. Some people still did not trust him completely, despite Solit Company issuing a public apology for all the infamy they had propagated. Simply put, everything had canceled out, making his popularity just ‘normal.’

Tsutomu left the scene and headed to where Ealdred Crow was gathering, wanting to get a good look at the summoned Layer Boss monsters. The Eidolons were set to be released once the Stampede was over, so he wanted to get a good feel of them while he could.

Standing near the Demi-Lich reminded Tsutomu of being in a science lab, and the Shell Crab made him think of children’s jungle gyms in playgrounds. Satisfied after getting to stroke the Crab’s solid, ore-embedded shell, Tsutomu proceeded to line up for the much more popular Fire Dragon. The Dragon’s area was quite crowded, with Explorers and civilians gathering around.

After waiting in line for about thirty minutes, Tsutomu finally got his turn. He greeted Rook and gently touched the leg of the Fire Dragon as it was eating a piece of meat.

The Fire Dragon’s scales were smooth and comfortable to the touch. Rook even arranged for Tsutomu to ride on the Dragon’s back as it flew. Although Tsutomu was used to flying by himself, the view of the sky as seen on the giant creature’s back felt quite different.

The Dragon’s scales were slippery, however; once it spun in the air, Tsutomu got thrown off. He was quick to cast <<Fly>> and land safely, though he looked disappointed by what had just happened. This scene caused all the civilians to immediately refrain from asking to ride the Fire Dragon.

As for the Queen Spider, he had never wanted to touch it, but then he simply decided not to go anywhere near it upon hearing the disturbing voice of a certain woman as she rubbed her cheeks against the Spider’s abdomen. Similarly, the people around Tsutomu avoided the scene.

Tsutomu proceeded to leave the central square and head to the northern gate again. This time, to wait for Leon’s return from his reconnaissance mission. The only people around at this time were the eldest daughter of House Babenberg, the soldiers on guard, and the Golden Tune Clan members.

Golden Tune was doing great, both with their behind-the-scenes work and Leon’s scouting. With his overwhelming speed and strength over most normal monsters, Leon had high survivability and would always return with information quickly. He was practically the best scout one could ask for.

Every hour or so, Leon would head out and observe the areas he could see within the timeframe. Considering how far he could go, it was always enough for Dungeon City to start preparing for an interception.

After three trips in the early afternoon, Leon came back, detecting the Stampede on his latest trip.

“Hello. How did your mission go?”

“Huh, you’re still here, Tsutomu? You really wanna get your hands on the latest scoop, eh?”

While his Clan members wiped his sweat-soaked hair with a towel, Leon looked at Tsutomu, somewhat surprised. The only other people currently near the northern section of the barrier were the soldiers on guard, Golden Tune members; all the others were resting up in the central square.

“So, I’ve seen the Stampede… but it was a bit strange.”

“Strange, how?”

“For one, it was a lot smaller than the one that just went through Uga’ol. Lots of already-bloody monsters among them, too; maybe they’ve been eating their own kind?”

“…They were already bloody? Was there anything else of note?”

“Nothing in particular, no. I’ll tell you if I find anything new next time.”

“Thank you very much.”